My dog has recurring diarrhea. What other vet tests are there?

Question

What are the recommended vet tests for a dog with repeated bouts of diarrhea? Last time it took 10 days of rice & chicken, probiotics and antibiotics for the diarrhea to get better, a week later it's back. Other than stool sample and blood panel, what else is recommended? Thank you. Pet's info: Dog | Yorkshire Terrier | Female | spayed | 1 year and 2 months old | 5.95 lbs

C. Rathjens, DVM · Accepted Answer

With a normal stool sample and blood panel, the next steps are experimenting with diet - specifically a hypoallergenic prescription diet (such as Royal Canin Ultamino, which is definitely the most expensive option, but also the one that seems to work best in diagnosing food allergies. It takes eating ONLY the prescription food for about a month to see if it helps, and then if it does help you can certainly experiment with less expensive foods. If you she would having signs of food allergy you'd need to do a full 3 months, but for intestinal issues, you should see a response in just a couple weeks) OR a high fiber/easily digestible diet (such as Hills Fiber Response EN). Some dogs need continual probiotics to keep normal stool. Treating any underlying anxiety (if present) can also help. Finally, a gut biopsy, which is much more invasive and costly can be done. Since she isn't yet spayed, I would consider doing a gut biopsy when/if she is spayed because that would be minimal additional expense or trauma for her while she's already have an abdominal surgery. I hope that helps! Wishing you the best with this difficult issue - It can take a long long time to get to the bottom of things

My dog has recurring diarrhea. What other vet tests are there?

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